So how much is in your Troops Bank Account???

[Basementdweller]

Embezzling $73,000 all I got to say is holy crap batman. Not only the fact that the money was stolen......But how many troops have that much cash laying around?????/

 

 

Right now our Troop savings account is $186 and Checking is $390.

 

 

I am blown away by a troop that has that kind of bread, greenbacks, payola, or change layin around....

 

So how does one a mass that kind of money?????? or why???????

 

 

[trainerlady]

Basement,

 

Haven't read the article referred to in the post this was spun from yet. But here's my personal experiences.

 

My old pack had $5,000 in its account total. But most of the money was in individual scout family accounts. I think we carried about $3,500 in family accounts and about $1,500 in general operating funds after popcorn and other fundraising funds came in during the fall. By spring we'd be down to a hundred dollars in general funds but still have family account money. But it still looked like we had $3,500 in the bank.

 

Big brother troop had accounts totaling over $10,000 again most of it is scout accounts. And this was a troop with 10 kids in it. So it isn't hard to beleive that a big troop could have a high amount of total deposits on hand if they use scout accounts.

[Beavah]

Yah, I think it's a bit hard to imagine a troop with that kind of cash position, let alone it disappearing without folks knowing about it for a bit.

 

Still, if yeh think of a bigger, active troop... Particularly goin' into the summer, yeh might have deposits for summer camp that could amount to $20K or more; deposits for a high adventure trip that could be about the same, money set aside for trailer repair/replacement, other money in scout accounts. Active big troops need to keep a fair bit of cash on hand just to manage cash flow.

 

Still, $73K is staggering unless they're a Sea Scout unit with a big boat or 3, or perhaps a troop with a bus that they are saving up to replace.

 

B

 

[Nike]

They did say the 73K was stolen over 2 years, so popcorn, summer camp, trips, maybe they have a big BBQ or other fundraiser, generous bequests....

 

I imagine that a large, very active troop with some high priced trips could easily have 30K slosh through in a year.

[eagle90]

Beavah is right on the money. Right now we have $19,000 in our treasury, but $8,000 is in scout accounts, and we are in the midst of collecting Summer Camp fees for 50 scouts and 12 adults, and High Adventure payments for 12 people. We have a troop of 62 scouts.

 

[Scoutfish]

Over two years?

Thing is.......it went unnoticed the first year and went through a second year before getting caught.

 

So how much money did they have that the first year went unnoticed?

 

Our pack will - at it's peak - have around $7,000 in our total account. But this would also include money that has to go to recharter, to the scout office for popcorn sales, new registrations, fall ccouncil camp fees , and include den as well as individula scout accounts.

 

We will drop down to around $600 to $700 at our low point.

 

And $600 is a scary low amount.

 

So, we might go as high as $7,00 with 120 scouts at the beginning of the yeat, what did this troop have?

 

12,000 Boy Scouts?

 

[packsaddle]

I don't buy that 'event funds' argument. Summer camp is a 'pass through'. You collect the checks and then turn around and write a big one equivalent to the collection. That's revenue-neutral. If any of that had been stolen the discrepancy would be noted when the check bounced. The theft had to be netted from 'unencumbered' funds.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[Oak Tree]

The theft had to be netted from 'unencumbered' funds.

 

At least, the early part of it did. The last part could have been one big theft of summer camp funds or something, but as noted, this happened over a two year period.

 

Unless the troop was saving up for something spectacular (their own building, maybe), I'd find it hard to justify keeping that much cash and not spending it on things that would benefit the program.

 

Our pack and troop have managed to save some money up to the point of having maybe $5000-$10000 in unencumbered funds, but I don't think we'd ever go much beyond that.

[artjrk]

You asked how much does our troop have in our account.

 

Not counting Scout accounts, We keep an additional surplus equal to our annual operating budget. approx $5,500. We keep this in case our annual fundraiser doesn't go well. We have now capped the fundraiser so as to not put too much money in the account. Since our accounts are technically belong to our CO (school PTA) we are trying to keep it streamlined. We keep the surplus since the PTA does not actually provide any financial support.

[Nike]

In the article, it mentioned that the money has already been paid back and that a gambling problem was most likely at the root of it. Perhaps this is a case of unauthorized use being prosecuted.

 

Always get two signatures on every check.

[Eagledad]

It's not hard, while I was SM, we averaged four hi-adventure trips, one Big summer camp, several fundraisers where the money went into scout accounts and just general stuff like replacing equipment each year. So with camp deposits alone, a troop could be holding A LOT of money. It's not like a scout's check is sent strait to camp as soon as he pays. Camps want one big check at a time, so the troop collects the fees over time until the camp check is sent.

 

My wife was our troop treasure and a CPA. She said because of individual scout accounts, the troop by far was the most difficult client she had. By the way, scouts were not allowed to take their accounts with them when they left the troop. That is a very sizable chunk of change in a bigger troop.

 

Barry

[Basementdweller]

Far enough........

 

We are a small troop, our biggest expense out of the year is summer resident camp......We don't have a big pot of money to replace gear and we don't have a bunch of money from benefactors.

 

We only have a couple of grand just before we pay for summer camp.....Never to the tune of $70,000.

[SeattlePioneer]

>

 

 

I find it hard to believe that a CPA would find dealing with Scouts Accounts to be difficult.

 

Can you explain why?

[Oak Tree]

Always get two signatures on every check.

 

Can you explain how this helps? If someone is going to embezzle funds, it seems like it's almost as easy for them to forge a second signature as it is to make the unauthorized check in the first place.

[Eagledad]

Sure, the scouts can add and take from their accounts anytime they like. They may take some money for a weekend campout fees or summercamp. She also had to monitor each account and know who was usong their accounts for summer camp or other scout activities and make sure everyone had enough for each camp payment. She guesses she processed somewhere around 50 thousand checks for the troop.

 

We started the individual scout accounts back when we had around 15 scouts. I don't think anyone envisioned 95 Active scouts eight years later. And, that didn't include nonactive scouts who were still registered. While the individual accounts are a good thong, they can be a book keeping nightmare.

 

The scouts could use their money for anything scouting. Food, equipment, camp fees or even their uniform. They could not take it with them, so we encourage them to use their money. But a lot of scouts left some money and that added up. We had at least three fund raisers a year so the scouts had every opportunity to pay their way. The troop rarely did fundraisers for itself. A trailer fund raiser was the last one I remember.

 

We had the most active group of 14 and older scouts in the council, so they stayed pretty busy.

 

Just goes to show, if you build a good boy run program , they will come.

 

Barry